Interesting, My 04 Passenger Seat Heater Switch low heat light bulb went out. Dealer replaced it as a warranty item. In the process the dealer’s service mechanic ruined the console the switch is mounted in the best as I can figure he did not have any idea what he was doing. Issue went from bad to worst and took over 8 return visits and 12 hours of my time before resolution. They did give me a free oil change for my time (whoopee)

I now have a 06 with 543 miles on it and noticed the exact same light is out. (What are the odds of that?) I purchased the vehicle from the dealer with the inexperienced mechanic’s because they gave the best price on the vehicle. They say they will replace the light bulb (which is again not in stock) and they think they can do it right this time. I think I will go the extra mile to another dealership and have it work on.

 

I don't blame you. If you know the other place's mechanics are better. I'd go too......

 

Thats irritating as hell.....My passenger heated seat for the back light is out. Dealer replaced it and now the color doesn't match the driver side!

 

my driver side sweat warmer lights went out.. im taking it to the stealership tonight to fix it.. hopefully the lights will match.

 

One of mine (I think it was driver's high) light burnt out. Dealer charged me $8 for it during a regular service. Now the passenger high is out. Not too impressive.

 

And that is why my driver-side one is still out...because I don't want to have the console panel pulled again.

It actually takes serious brute force to pull the console panel.
I pulled it to install A/V stuff, I guess I knocked the bulb out of place.

 

i confused
are you saying that your passenger rear seat heater light is out? how do you have one? or do you mean the passenger front seat light for the back of the seat heater is out? how do you have one? passenger only heats the ass, as the airbag sensor is on the back portion.

anyway, mine go out when i open the console. $2 bulb and 2 minute fix from radioshack/DIY

 

Strange...I thought this was a rare thing. The backlight on my driver's side seat heater light just went out. Is this something they will happily replace under warranty or are they going to argue that a bulb is a consumable part?

I thought about replacing it myself but don't see directly how to get to it.

-GT

 

hah funny (well, not really), but I just had this happen to me too. Driver's side light was out, they replaced it and in the process broke the tabs on the console piece, waited 3 weeks to order and replace, and then when I got the car back, the passenger's side went out. They then decided to do a quick fix while I was waiting, and they broke the trim around the shifter. I complained to them and they decided to use superglue to fix it.... SUPER freakin GLUE! I didn't realize until the next day because it was dark, and I saw white, marred plastic all over. I went back AGAIN and now they have the pieces on order again.

So much trouble to get a stupid bulb replaced. I should've just replaced it myself, save a lot of time and hassle.

As a side note, they have me a loaner car dirty as hell during the second visit... oh, and it comes with a free box of condoms in the trunk, too...

 

maybe "rear" means "ass" in his statement.

 

Reminds me. I need to call the dealership and have them replace the drivers side seat heat backlight. First the passenger light and now the drivers side.

 

How difficult are these switch lights to replace? Mine are OK so far but maybe its a better option for the dealership to just give me the bulb under warranty and let me do it myself when the time comes.

 

lol, i think I will wait until ALL lights go out and get replacement then

 

The bulb on mine went out a while ago. It doesn't bother me enough to run the risk of the dealership screwing up the console for a small little light.

 

Same happened to me, took to dealer and they replaced it for free. Wish they can do the same for my CD changer, car out of warranty now .

 

i can't believe people are having so much trouble with the console...i have opened up mine at least 20X to make little mods and changes...never cracked or broken any panels.

 

My driver's-side heater switch light was out for months. Randomly came back on one day on its own, hope it stays!

 

I sometimes wonder what's going through these guys' heads when they're fixing something.

 

my green illumination light went out, its a really easy fix. $6 bulb from the dealer, and it took me about 20 minutes, but I was overly cautious in removing the console. If you decide and remove it, there are some great links with pictures on removing the console. I found the method that worked well for me was prying the padded "handle" part of a set of pliers into the gap at the back of the console, between the handbrake and the console. Then just patience, dont apply too much pressure, the clips will let go if you apply a little bit of pressure. I didn't even need to remove the switch, just unscrewed the bulb from the side and put the new one in.

BTW, the dealer wanted $60 to do this.

 

same bulbs at RadioShack for $2 a pair

 

My passenger side is out too

 

Dealer is replacing my driver side seat heater backlight today.

 

I had my Driver's side replaced a few months ago under warranty

 

Yes, mine was under warranty as well. They did a great job. Looks good now

 

same happed to me. Dealer fixed for free.

 

I had this happen and did the radio shack route with no problems. I highly recommend that you do both pass and driver as long as you have the console open.

 

My drivers side seat heater backlight went out and so did the moonroof switch backlight. This really pisses me off. Car looks like a junk with lights burnt out. I wouldn't have expected to have little b/s problems like this until at least a few more years down the road. I wonder if I should just buy the bulbs online or run the risk of the dealer shorting my remote turn on switch that is on the same panel as the roof switch?

Is it just as easy to replace as it looks? There are little colored screw head looking things that just look like they unscrew. Is the bulb just seated in that screw head?

Here is something that may be of help to some others. It has the part numbers for a 2005 TSX switches and bulbs.

Acura Oem Parts switch link

 

This just happened to me as well, I went to radio shack and auto zone and no one had LEDs that just screw in like the OEM one. What exactly did you guys get to repair?

 

The worst part will be getting the center console open. Once you have done that the rest is easy.

 

I don't think its a LED per se but it could be. It is just a bulb with two wire leads coming out of it. Nothing "screws in." The wire leads wrap around some terminals in the switch.

The people at Radio Shack are idiots in general. Even when you walk in with exact specs on the bulb it took them an hour to find it in their parts trays. You may just want to order off the parts site listed above.

Unfortunately I don't have the RS packaging but searching through all the threads on this subject should gee you some references - others have posted the RS part numbers in similar threads.

One thing I do recommend tho - ok 2. One don't touch the glass on the bulbs - wipe them clean before you put them away. The oil on your skin is hard on the bulb and it will blow sooner. Second, replace both driver and passenger while you are in there so you are not pulling the whole thing apart a few months later to change the other.

 

I just went to Radio Shack today and got the bulbs. It is a little bit of a tedious job but not hard to do.

Here is the link that gave me the part number for the bulbs...

Radio Shack bulb link

The package looks like this so it is easy to find if and when you go to the store..

 

Where is the link for instructions on opening the console? My light went out recently and I'm out of warranty.

 

Here is the only link that I had regarding the console removal...

http://andylee.us/gallery/console

It doesn't really show the whole thing but it is a start. I will be honest, this method made me a little nervous. When you start prying at the back part of the console behind the e-brake book it feels like it would be prone to cracking.

The second time around I used a different approach. I opened the cup holder door and gripped the cup holder (not the door) as hard as I could from the right side (placing all fingers but thumbs inside the cup holder and thumbs on outside (which would be the right side of console) for leverage. This was enough to get the back clips out and some of the ones on the right side. Then you can wedge your fingers under the front and the rest is easy.

 

Back from the dead...

To anyone who's done this themselves, how many bulbs do I actually need to order? My driver's side one went out a couple of months ago and I had the dealer do it under warranty. Now my passenger side is out and I don't want to go through the hassle of a dealership appointment. I've taken my console apart plenty before, so I know I can do this.

But from the AcuraOemParts link above, it looks like each switch has three bulbs - one "BULB A" and two "BULB B"'s. Should I just order all three to be safe, or what?

 

If it were me, I would replace all to them, since you are going to have to take the console apart anyway.

 

Well, I finally got around to fixing the other burnt out bulb today... I had the car in at the dealer last week and asked them to fix it - I figured it would be the same $8.00 for the bulb as last time. This time around they wanted the $8.00, PLUS one hour labour @ $120/hr to install it. So I said "thanks, but no thanks" and just bought the bulb.

The amber coloured blub (bulb B from audioserf's post) is Honda part # 35853-SDA-A01.

Doing the replacement myself took 12 minutes, seven minutes of which was spent cleaning the grooves and edges of the console and removing and cleaning the shifter boot - seemed like the right time to do that since it was all out anyway. It took about four minutes to remove the cover and replace the bulb. The last minute I spent congratulating myself on having saved $120 and admiring the newly cleaned console.

The instructions from the comptech short shifter were very useful to see the details of where the tabs holding the console cover are located. I used a putty knife wrapped in cloth to pry the cover panel up a bit without damaging the panel or the surround. In retrospect, that probably wasn't necessary; just pulling it straight up would have worked just about as well.

Given the ease of removing the console cover and replacing the bulb, I wouldn't bother replacing all of the others, but they are cheap so it might make sense to buy one extra of each type to have on hand in case they are needed.

 

Hey thanks you guys for the info on how to take the console apart. My light for the heated seat back light is out a week ago...i was fooling around try to get the console apart but the passenger side heated seat light is out too. So i went to the radio shack to get the bulbs, cost me @ 1.68 for a set of two. I pried into the gap at the back of the parking brake and work my way toward the front...at first i thought i was going to break it. But it finally come apart...replace the bulbs and they worked...yeah. By the way i grease the 8 clips with a chapstick material so incase next time i need to get back in there it should be easy... Thanks guys

 

Thanks for all the dead links!! Damn this console is pissing me off and I cant find a working link with pictures on how to remove it!! ARGH!!!

 

Thanks all for your combined advice. To remove the center console, I loosed the lock nut under the gear shift knob and unscrewed the knob and removed the lock nut. Next, I started at the back using the brake gap as my first leverage point. Used slow steady pressure to lift upward along with a duct tape covered screwdriver, to protect the plastic, to get the console off. The last was to gently squeeze in the lock tabs for each of the heater switch connectors and pulled them off.

Sorry no photos, but each heater switch has three lights -- HI, LO, night light. Each light is seated in a round plastic base a quarter inch in diameter. Using a small screw driver I unscrewed the night light from the seat heater switch. The bulb was covered with a blue rubber/plastic condom (can't think of a better description), which was easily removed. You'll see that the long wire leads from the bulb are pushed through the base an wrapped around the base. I unwrapped the wire leads and removed the damage bulb. (I checked for an electrical circuit and found none. Did the same with a new bulb and found one, just to be sure).

I put the blue condum on the bulb (I guess it mutes the light and perhaps prevents rattling). Threaded the two wire leads through the two holes in the bottom of the light base and wrapped them around the base. I clipped off the excess wire and replaced the base and light into heater switch. I tested the lights before I put it all back together.

Reassembly was the reverse of the above. It was all a lot simpler and easier than the above description makes it sound. My only fear was getting ham fisted and breaking something but moving methodically and being gentle with everything saved me from damaging anything.

The lights work -- by coincidence the second heater switch running light went out and I replaced it too. Total time was about an hour.

 

I just had my passenger side backlight bulb replaced as well... Under warranty with 30k miles.